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Office of Conservation calls for public input to the Water Resources Commission

The Louisiana Office of Conservation is calling on interested members of the public to share their ideas on ground and surface water management and related concerns over the next two weeks as part of an ongoing effort to strategize on the development process for a state water resources management plan.

The comment period follows last week’s Office of Conservation-hosted workshop for the state Water Resources Commission (WRC) in Baton Rouge, held to help outline the next steps in the formulation of a state water plan. The office serves as the staffing agency for WRC, which has authority to evaluate the state's ground and surface water resources, including current and projected demands, inventory of water supplies, and identifying potential future deficit areas.

In a recent resolution, WRC stated its ultimate goal in this way - “development of a comprehensive statewide water resources management plan that will provide a sound basis for supplying Louisiana’s future water needs.”

More than 80 people attended the meeting, which included overviews of the recently approved coastal master plan and the state’s current ground and surface water management infrastructure, along with a roundtable discussion with WRC members on the direction of long-term planning.

Featured speakers at the workshop were Jerome Zeringue, executive director of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority; Karen Gautreaux, director of government relations at The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana and a former deputy secretary at the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality; and Mark Davis, director of Tulane University Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy. Both Gautreaux and Davis are recent appointees to WRC.

For more information on the workshop, visit the website to view the presentations and relevant planning documents at http://dnr.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=475.

To further assist WRC in the development of the next steps for a state water resources management plan, the Office of Conservation will take public comments through the close of business on Monday, November 4, 2013.

Comments can be returned by regular mail to:            

                        Louisiana Office of Conservation

                        Attn: Water Mgmt. Planning

                        P.O. Box 94275

                        Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9275 or by email to: gwater@la.gov